The Gophers are also the nation's top team according to this week's USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll, picking up 497 points including 23 first-place votes. Quinnipiac ranks second with 485 points and 11 first-place votes while Miami (420), New Hampshire (417) and Boston College (369) round out the top five.

Elsewhere in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, North Dakota ranks seventh in the USCHO.com poll and eighth in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll. Denver comes in at 10th in both polls, St. Cloud State ranks 12/13, Omaha sits at 14th in both polls with Minnesota State sitting one spot back in 15th. Wisconsin improved to 19th in this week's USCHO.com poll.

The Gophers are off this weekend before heading to St. Cloud State the following weekend for the first and only series between the two in-state rivals this season (both programs' last in the WCHA). The Huskies sit on top of the WCHA standings currently with 25 league points -- one point ahead of Minnesota and Omaha in a second-place tie with 24.